The Dynasty Challenge is an expanded form of the Legacy Challenge based on the rise of monarchies after the fall of the Roman Empire. Rather than playing through 10 generations, you play through 2250 Sim Days, from the humble and besieged beginnings of your dynasty to the pomp, circumstance, and grandeur of those modern monarchies that still exist. You must found and create your nation and build it up to rule the every neighborhood in the game.

Getting Started
The first thing to do is start a new game. The empire has been swept away, and it's only fair we start with a clean slate as well.

Begin by creating your founder. You can choose their gender, appearance, wardrobe, age, everything. However, they must have one of the following traits:
Gloomy
Hot headed
Clumsy
Insane
Lazy
Squeamish
Mean
Noncommital
They have witnessed the downfall of the society into which they were born; they weren't going to escape that unscathed.

You also have the choice of creating a consort for your founder. The same restrictions apply to the consort, with the added restriction that they must be of the opposite sex (same sex relationships are taboo until much later in the challenge). If you decide not to create a consort, you must marry one of the randomly generated characters in game, same as the vanilla Legacy Challenge. Once you have shelter, this should be your first priority.

Be sure to choose your founder's surname wisely; it's going to be the name by which all other players will know your dynasty by!

Once you have created your founder (and consort if you decide to do so), it's time to move into an empty lot. The lot you choose must be at least 30x30, and should be on the edge of town, preferably in an easily defensible place. Cypress Terrace in Willow Creek and Slipshod Mesquite in Oasis Springs are prime examples. This lot will serve as your royal family's castle. As such, it must look the part, and be able to defend your founder from anyone who might want to harm them. Such things can include a moat, drawbridge, gates, etc. They live in a hostile time, and will continue to do so until they or someone else in the family reaches the top of one of the career tracks acceptable to the monarch (being the Diamond Agent branch of the Secret Agent path or Law Enforcement) and they are friends with at least 30% of the people living in their home neighbourhood. But more on that later.

Titles
Let's face it, you're royalty. You need a title. So what you need to do is come up with one for your founder to pass onto his heirs. For your founder, you can use one of seven different title ranks:
Duke
Prince
Grand Duke
Grand Prince
Archduke
King
Emperor

These titles denote different ranks in the nobility, which will come into play later on. Each rank costs $8200, and can be paid by buying the Knight of the Octagon Table. Once buying it to increase your family's rank, you can never sell it. You have the option to display it in the Great Hall, or to keep it in your family inventory. But you can never get rid of it.

Succession Laws
As a dynasty, you're going to need succession laws. In these laws, you have several choices in each of three categories:

Gender Law
Which gender has preference in your dynasty? This is a question you can answer as soon as you create your founder, or answer later on depending on the exact laws you choose below. How much preference will you give that gender? There are several choices here:

Salic Law - Only members of your preferred gender can succeed to the throne. If there are no children of the preferred gender, your heir is the next eldest sibling of the preferred gender. No descendant of the non-preferred gender can succeed to the throne.

Semi-Salic Law - Only member of your preferred gender can succeed to the throne. If there are no children of the preferred gender, your heir is the eldest child of the preferred gender of the eldest child of the monarch.

Traditional - Members of the preferred gender inherit before members of the non-preferred gender. This includes a younger child of the preferred gender inheriting before an older child of the non-preferred gender.

Absolute Cognatic (unlockable on Day 2000) - Your heir is the oldest child, regardless of gender.

Inheritance Law
What way will the crown pass in your dynasty? This might seem like a simple enough question, but it can be quite more complex than you might think. There are five different variations:

Vertical - The crown passes from parent to child, simple as.

Seniority - The crown passes not from parent to child, but from sibling to sibling. Once all the children of a monarch have ruled in turn (or died beforehand), the crown passes to the eldest descendant of a previous monarch (ie going to a cousin if their parent ruled over a sibling's child).

Marumakathayam - The crown passes vertically, but from the monarch to the preferred gendered child of their eldest non-preferred gendered sibling.

Elective - A vote is held to choose the heir upon the death of the monarch. All preferred gender members of the dynasty are eligible and you can do this either as a poll among Livestream/Twitch/YouTube viewers, or by choosing the candidate with the highest average relationship among the members of the dynasty.

Tanistry - Same as elective, except upon the death of the monarch you elect the new heir. That way the succession is always safe.

Heir Designation
Once you've chosen the direction to pass the crown, there are two other variants that you have to choose from:

Primogeniture - Starts with the eldest, and works its way younger.

Ultimogeniture - Starts with the youngest, and works its way older.

Examples:
Let's take the following family tree as an example:

And let's assume that I chose as my succession rule male preference Semi-Salic primogeniture, a common form of succession traditionally in Continental Europe. The line of succession would go like this:

Emile

Charles

Thomas

Erick

Alexander

Richard

Wilson

Simon

Taigh

Timothy

Everett

Kevin

Declan

Tom

Gameplay Rules
Here are the restrictions and rules for the challenge.

No cheats/mods that give you an advantage over other players. The Legacy Challenge rule of thumb applies here.

Title holders can have only one of two careers: Diamond Agent (branch of the Secret Agent career) and Law Enforcement.

Title holders will have their surnames replaced with their title, ie Emile Browne becomes Emile, King of Arcadia.

Every title holder must have a unique title. If you cannot think of a name for the title, the person becomes a commoner and is no longer counted as part of the dynasty.

Marriages for dynasty members are arranged. How are they arranged? You choose a Sim from the exchange to marry your dynasty member to. This Sim must be a member of another dynasty, as denoted by the hashtag #dynastychallenge. You must ask permission from the Sim's uploader to marry your dynasty member to them.

Non-preferred gender dynasty members are uploaded to the exchange upon reaching either teenager or young adulthood (your discretion). You can also choose which offer you get for your dynasty members to marry. You can also refuse for whatever reason you wish.

When uploaded to the exchange, the following information must be included with the Sim: full name, dynasty, Day the Sim was born, Day the Sim was uploaded, related dynasties (if any), parent's nobility rank, dowry (ie the money the Sim would bring with them).

You may choose to localise the title names (such as being the Tsar of Arcadia instead of the Emperor).

Marriages should ideally be between individuals of the same rank. Marriages of unequal rank are considered morganatic, and the children will take the lower rank.

The Sim's dowry must not exceed 10% of the Sim's parent's household net worth. Otherwise the dowry is up to the player's discretion.

Upon marriage, non-preferred gender dynasty members are removed from your game and no longer considered part of your dynasty. The exception to this is if this member is the heir to a title, or high up in the order of succession.

Children of title holders are given the title of a rank between two and four levels below their parent's title (your discretion). They are however considered the same as their parent's rank.

Younger children that do not inherit the title may receive a new title from the monarch. Do do so, they must become Good Friends with reigning monarch and be able to afford the patents of nobility ($8200, by buying the Knight of the Octagon Table). This new title will be three ranks below their parent's title.

As soon as the household can afford it, you must hire a maid, a gardener, and a caterer. The nobility must not lift a finger.

Lower levels of the nobility can take any job they wish (as long as it is not currently restricted by the technology restrictions).

Consorts may not work.

Timed events
During the course of the challenge, certain events will take place on (or starting on) certain days of the challenge:

Justinian's Plague (Days 37-38): The first of the great plagues. Over the course of these two days, the Plague of Justinian descends upon your nation. You must flip a coin for every Sim alive in all neighbourhoods. Heads means they live. Tails means they die of the plague.

Alarm clocks become available (Day 313)

Iconoclasm Movement (Day 315): Your monarch declares artwork depicting the gods to be blasphemous. Any artwork in your household that depicts people other than members of your dynasty are to be removed or destroyed. You may not keep the profits from selling these works of art. You can start decorating with this artwork again on Day 489.

The Viking Age (Days 415-825): Every day, roll a 20 sided die. If you roll a 1, the Vikings come raiding your household. When they do, you lose up to 50% of your household's net worth (determined by a roll of a 50 sided die). There is also a 25% chance that one member of the household is taken away as a slave by the Vikings (removed from the game completely).

Cluniac Reforms (Day 591): Sims now have the option of living in a monastery/nunnery, a separate household where dynasty members must renounce their titles and inheritances, but can still count 100% toward your score. You may only have one monastery and one nunnery at a time.

Founding of the University of Bologna (Day 858): New career becomes available for non-title holders (Medicine)

The Crusades (Days 870-1134): The first major war of the challenge. Younger children of the preferred gender can choose to go off to the Crusades. There is a 60% of them dying, but if they survive they found a cadet branch of your dynasty and count for half of the original score.

Foundation of the Knights Templar (Day 903): Dynasty members who have returned from the Crusades can choose to join the Knights Templar, a non-hereditary title with the rank of Knight, and count for 75% of the original score. Following the end of the Crusades, any dynasty member who would've been eligible to go on Crusade may join the Knights Templar regardless.

Sims may start wearing glasses (Day 1155)

Knights Templar Order exterminated (Day 1186): All dynasty members who have joined the Knights Templar are arrested and killed. Dynasty members can no longer join the Knights Templar.

The Black Death (Days 1246-1253): As with the first plague, flip a coin for every Sim in all neighbourhoods. Heads: they live, tails: they die.

Joan of Arc (Day 1369): If involved in a war, a member of your dynasty of the non-preferred gender may join the war effort (ie they take the same chances of dying as the other dynasty members).

Printing press invented (Day 1384): Books are no longer considered a luxury and can be purchased by everyone (previous to this, only members of the higher nobility and monasteries can buy books).

The Renaissance (Days 1405-1501): Every child born during this period will receive the creative trait. The scientist career track becomes available.

Reformation and Wars of Religion (Days 1502-1698): Reforms sweep across your region, and your monarch has two choices. They can either embrace the reforms or resist them. Every monarch in this period will have this choice. If they choose to embrace the reforms, the monastery and nunnery are dissolved and can no longer count towards your score. The residents will live the rest of their life in abject poverty, but you will gain a fight opportunity if you trigger a revolution. If they resist the reforms, the monasteries and nunneries will continue to count for full score, but you will lose a fight opportunity if you trigger a revolution. Likewise, every Sim will have a 30% chance of dying before reaching full adulthood due to the wars of religion raging across the region.

Telescope now available (Day 1638)

Microscope now available (Day 1740)

Scientific Revolution (Day 1756): Science career track now available

Pianos now available (Day 1776)

Age of Enlightenment (Days 1798-1909): Every child born during this time must have either the Genius trait or the Bookworm trait.

Industrial Revolution begins (Day 1866): Commoners related to your dynasty now have the ability to open a shop to sell crafts that they create. They may use the profits from this shop to buy a title from the monarch ($8200 for the lowest rank, an extra $8200 for each subsequent rank). The relationship requirement is removed.

London Stock Exchange opens (Day 1927): Business career track now available

Showers become available (Day 1941)

Indoor plumbing available to all outside royal household (Day 2001)

Radio now available (Day 2041)

Electric light available for the royal household (Day 2054)

World War I (Days 2097-2103): All gender preferred Sim teens and young adults go off to war, both members of your dynasty and others. 1 out of every 8 will be killed as a result of the war. Those returning take one of the following traits:
Gloomy
Hot headed
Clumsy
Insane
Lazy
Squeamish
Mean
Noncommital

Spanish Flu Pandemic (Days 2104-2105): The soldiers coming back from the war have brought back a terrible disease. It kills 10% of all Sims across all neighbourhoods.

Electric light available to all outside royal household (Day 2114)

World War II (Days 2134-2144): The last of the great wars. All gender preferred Sim teens and young adults go off to war, both members of your dynasty and others. 1 out of every 4 will be killed as a result of the war. Those returning take one of the following traits:
Gloomy
Hot headed
Clumsy
Insane
Lazy
Squeamish
Mean
Noncommital
A further 1 in 30 of other Sims across all neighbourhoods also are killed as a result of the war.

Television becomes available (Day 2144)

The Cold War (Days 2149-2212): Secret Agent career is open to all non-title holders. The Villain track opens up as the opposing side in the Cold War.

Computers become available (Day 2192)

Mobile phones can now be used (Day 2194)

World wide web invented (Day 2209): Tech Guru career unlocked

NB: This is a very Eurocentric set of timed events. Should you wish to play a dynasty with a background outside of Europe, you are more than welcome to come up with a separate list of timed events that converges with this one at World War I. I will post these lists here as I receive them (I don't feel qualified enough about non-Western history to do such a list justice).

Triggered events
Unlike the timed events, these events can happen whenever the conditions are met to kick them off.

Creation of a cadet branch: A cadet branch of your dynasty is created whenever someone other than the monarch of your dynasty rises to the duke level or higher. They are given a new surname based off their title (ie the cadet branch founded by Michael Duke of Millthwaite would found the House of Millthwaite). These houses still count towards your dynasty but only at 25% of the original score. This is also the case whenever an illegitimate child is given a title, no matter the rank.

Succession war: If a close relative of your previous monarch is better liked than your designated heir by other members of your dynasty, and this person has a negative relationship with the designated heir, a succession war happens. During a succession war, the designated heir and the claimant must have three fights. The winner of the majority of those fights becomes the new monarch. If the claimant would be higher in the succession than your designated heir except for the fact that they're illegitimate, the negative relationship prerequisite is waived. Furthermore, between 1% and 10% of your dynasty members are killed as a result of the war.

Revolution: If the average relationship your monarch has with commoners is negative, then a revolution begins. When this happens, your monarch must have three fights with three different commoners (four if you embraced religious reform, two if you didn't during the wars of religion). If you lose more of these fights than you win, your monarchy is deposed, your nation becomes a republic, and you lose the challenge. If you win more of these fights than you lose, the revolution is crushed and your monarchy is safe for at least the rest of your current monarch's reign.

Well, this is a lot of information for one post, and this is my first time creating a proper challenge (and I might've gone a little overboard), but tell me your thoughts and if you'd be interested in undertaking this challenge!

Scoring information and all subsequent clarifying information will follow in another post. Happy Simming!

Note (question from the Reddit): Once an inheritable title is purchased, it doesn't need to be purchased again. It will automatically be passed down to the heir. The siblings of the heir may also purchase inheritable titles that count towards your score as well.

The reason there was no way posted to unlock same-sex relationships is because I forgot to put it in. My bad.
For the majority of the challenge, same-sex relationships will be considered illegitimate and the offspring (if any) produced (probably by means of adoption) will be considered illegitimate. But that doesn't preclude LGBT dynasty members from existing and pursuing side relationships with one another. Exhibits A and B being Edward II and James I of England. In fact, during James I's reign, noble families would put forward their sons to be James' 'mistress' for lack of a better word. I'm thinking that there will probably be score bonuses for monarchs with official mistresses (as taking a mistress was considered quite normal for monarchs through most of history, and quite prestigious for the mistress in question), but I don't know yet how to score such things.
Actual legitimate marriage for same sex couples will come on Day 2000.

I like the idea of a non-related commoner being a live-in servant. That's something that for some reason I didn't think of. Should you opt for this, proper title would be butler for a male servant, housekeeper for a female. They wouldn't count towards your score obviously, and wouldn't be able to hold outside employment (obviously).
As for what to do with the leftover not-quite-royals, I can't give you an answer. As you said, that was a problem in real life as well, and as such every player would eventually have to come up with their own answers for that. Obviously, the leftover members of your dynasty of the non-preferred gender would become marriage fodder for other players, and I would suggest doing that with some of the gender preferred dynasty members who have basically no chance in hell to inherit a title. That way we have somewhat of a gender balance on the exchange.

Unless you buy another title for them, marriage fodder kids retain the rank of their title-holding parent. So Janet and James' children will inherit the emperor title.

The children receive courtesy titles, like how the offspring of a king are usually called princes and princesses. They're not inheritable titles however and aren't considered as title holders in their own right in the challenge. So they can go and marry someone from another dynasty of an equivalent rank to their title holding parent (ie a princess can marry a king or the son of a king in this instance) and be considered still the king rank, if that makes sense. So, I might upload a princess from my dynasty as such:
Princess Cicely (Rank: King), daughter of King Thomas of Norcadia.
As for creating the other levels of royalty and nobility, the dynasty members who don't inherit the royal title but stay in game can buy any rank of noble title they wish that's 3 or more ranks below the monarch, for a certain amount of money (1 statue per higher rank) if that makes sense. So for example, if you want Cicely's brother Owen to have a new title of nobility at the Grand Duke level, you have to have Good Friend and enough cash to buy 13 statues, whereas just a duke would be 11 statues because it's a lower rank.

I ran into an unexpected problem today while creating my first monarch: There is no way you can fit title and rank into the name box. I could call my monarch "Duke Raphael" or "Raphael Krähenfels" but not "Duke Raphael of Krähenfels" (not to mention longer titles, like "Grand Duchess"). There's not enough room.

I've been looking for a mod that makes it possible to give Sims longer names, but so far I've had no luck. Does anyone know a fix for that or is there another solution?

So, I just got around to creating my dynasty founder, and this is what I ended up doing for the title: I first created my characters with regular names to establish the name of the household and the dynasty. Once I'd done that, I bought my first statue, giving my monarch the title of Duke. So I changed his name from Spencer/O'Dowd (the slash standing for the separation between the first and last name slots) to Spencer, Duke/of Norcadia. Likewise his wife became Julianna,/Lady Norcadia

Is anyone else playing this challenge? I've got four princesses that I need married off soon, two of them are already teens =) I tried searching on #dynastychallenge in the gallery, but there was nothing there ... Come on guys, give me some princes! And a princess too preferably, for their little brother who will be the next king!

I am a bit confused at the beginning when you build your castle so to speak. Are you allowed to use a moneycheat to first build it or do you have to build it as you acquire money throughout the game ?

Also since there isn't many families on the gallery yet I am making 3 different families and having them rule over the different worlds like Oasis Springs etc.

I assumed we would have to earn our living the hard way by working for money until our status was suitable for a ruling family, but I actually don't know if we couldn't just use cheats to make a castle. That's what you do in the RKC when making the non-peasant families anyway. Btw, good to hear you're making some families, maybe if you have some sims to spare, they will be suitable matches for my princesses (and prince) =P

Sorry for spamming =) When someone agrees to download your Sim for marriage, do we delete that Sim from our game, simulating that they travelled away to be married? I assumed this would be the realistic way of doing it.

The Monarchy of Ivarmark presents two princesses, who are now eligible for marriage! They have been uploaded to the Gallery, where the required details are also stated. Open the spoiler to see an image of them =) Idunn is wearing makeup because her aspiration is to find a soulmate, and I thought it fit her personality to be a vain kind of person who would use whatever they had at hand in the pre-viking age to prettify herself. If it bothers your historical OCD then by all means give her a makeover, in fact whoever marries these girls into their family may do with them as they please. I should note that the girls are still teenagers, so if you decide to propose marriage to one of them, please let me know whether you plan on their marriage happening in their teens (if you have a mod) or when they become YA. That way I'll know when they are going to leave the household in my game.

Princess Frída of Ivarmark:(right, yellow shirt)
Firstborn daughter of King Ívarr and Queen Thora of Ivarmark.
Born on day 6, uploaded to Gallery on day 31.
Her parents hold the rank of king.
Dowry: 400 Simoleons (the monarchy is still poor)

Princess Frída aspires to be skillfull and wise, and thus studies to learn every intellectual skill or trade she comes upon. Her intellect and strategic counsel will be of great benefit for your dynasty family.

Please note: If you can't find her in the Gallery, try enabling CC. I'm pretty sure I didn't use CC on her, but I may have accidentily checked that off when I uploaded her.

Princess Idunn of Ivarmark: (left, purple shirt)
Secondborn daughter of King Ívarr and Queen Thora of Ivarmark.
Born on day 10, uploaded on day 31.
Her parents also hold the rank of king.
Dowry: 350 Simoleons

Princess Idunn is a passionate, romantic young girl who enjoys the company of men - but fear not, her honour is unsullied! Ahem. She wishes only to find her true love and be forever faithful to him. She will be a devoted and loyal addition to your dynasty family.

1. Servants must not hold an outside job. Their primary duty and function is to perform chores for and to serve the family.
2. Servants may use their free time to craft objects, paint, garden, etc, and supplement the household income along with whatever other hobbies they choose to engage in.
3. While servants are allowed to engage in romantic relationships, they are not allowed to marry.
4. Should a servant marry, or should a female servant become pregnant, they must leave service immediately. They must be moved out of the household immediately, with none of the family income transferred.
5. A romantic relationship between a member of the royal family and a servant is not considered adultery (oftentimes, especially in the Middle Ages and periods before it was considered the norm that your servants would be sexually available to you), and not a grounds for divorce in and of itself.

Thanks for clarifying about the houses etc. Jecela I might download your princesses in the future. I haven't done much as my internet broke and I couldn't be bothered going on my pc so have been reading instead and working.

Am still in the middle of making my actual dynasty family, here is the other royal families I made because there wasn't many on the gallery at the time.

First is the Zalidi family consisting of Emperor Izaiah and Empress Talia and their two sons Dharesh and Ezra . Their Kingdom is Oasis Springs and I placed them in the land that overlooks most of Oasis Springs, .

The other family whose Kingdom is Willow Creek, I based the family on elves from Lord of The Rings (which am currently reading). There is Lord Kasen Undomien (Arwen fan here) Wilow, Lady Anaya Undomien Wilow and their children, Lord Lutine, Lady Celeste and Lady Riverian.

My main Dynasty family is well on the way, I spent all my money building opps and they been literally scrapping by for 10 days now, a couple of promotions in work have helped. They have just had their first child, a daughter (hoping for a boy to be heir).

Here is the part of the castle i have built up to know, I plan to kinda have it built up ontop of a town and then my servants etc can live in small homes in the town area. Am getting a lot of inspiration from Skyrim (which am currently playing).

I have uploaded 2 females and 1 male to the Gallery, I have done them CC Free for now and then I am going to find out what CC I have used and write it in description of other copy encase anyone wants to download that.

Some other questions, what is the end aim to the challenge? you mention score but what are we scoring exactly? or is the challenge just to survive?

Can spouses have jobs and what jobs are available at the beginning if so?

For anyone who has get to work I think if your sim is sick then you shouldn't be allowed to go to hospital or take medicine, just natural remedies like rest and orange juice. Maybe medicine becomes avaliable day 1928, but hospital treatment could be earlier?

I am on day 30 of the challenge, I wanted a male heir but kept having girls, my fourth child was thankfully a male.

I am a bit confused with the titles, in the challenge does our founder start as gentleman and then have to buy each title or do they start as Duke and work there way up.